• Pulat Akin Sabanci, Tugrul Cem Unal, Onur Ozturk, Duygu Dolen, Ilyas Dolas, Baris Peker, Esra Saka, Achmet Ali, Aydin Aydoseli, Yavuz Aras, Altay Sencer, Kemal Hepgul, Nail Izgi, and Orhan Barlas.
• Department of Neurosurgery, Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey.
• World Neurosurg. 2021 Sep 1; 153: e373-e379.

BackgroundIn patients with hydrocephalus who undergo ventriculoperitoneal shunt placement, the ventricular catheter tip position is one of the most important prognostic factors influencing shunt survival. The aim of this study was to present our findings of ventriculoperitoneal shunt placement performed with intraoperative computed tomography (CT) and to evaluate the effect of intraoperative CT-based image guidance on optimal catheter positioning and overall shunt survival.MethodsOf the study enrolled 345 patients with hydrocephalus who underwent ventriculoperitoneal shunt placement for the first time between 2008 and 2018. Ventricular catheters were inserted freehand via the Kocher point into the lateral ventricle in all patients. In 163 patients, intraoperative CT was performed to confirm the tip position. In this group of patients, if the tip position was nonoptimal, the catheter was ejected and reinserted during the surgery. In the remaining 182 patients, the tip position was assessed with routine postoperative CT. The effect of performing intraoperative CT on catheter tip positioning and shunt failure was investigated.ResultsNonoptimal tip position was significantly correlated with shunt dysfunction even when excluding nonobstructive causes (P < 0.001). In the intraoperative CT group, 11 ventricular catheters (6.7%) were intraoperatively repositioned. The repositioning significantly improved the optimal tip position rate from 54% to 58.3% (P = 0.007). Intraoperative CT usage also showed direct correlation with shunt survival (P = 0.006).ConclusionsIntraoperative CT is an effective tool for increasing the rate of optimal tip positioning and thereby overall shunt survival.Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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